28-12-03 20:19, Mate Kapovic wrote:
> Certainly not. The word is present in almost all Slavic lgs, from Croatian
> to Russian. Also, the semantics in Slavic varies and it has sacred and
> non-sacred meaning which are obviously connected. The word is definitely
> Slavic and it's etymology is sound. I think it is also ad hoc less plausable
> that we are dealing with a Balkan Romance loanword to Slavic which came all
> the way to Russia and got all kinds of non-sacred meanings in between
> considering that there are tones of Slavic loanwords in both Romanian and
> Hungarian and much much much less of Balkan Romance loanwords common to
> *every* Slavic lgs. I do not have the time for details now. Maybe later.
Yesterday you wrote: "But there is no such word in Croatian or Serbian.
Only as somekind of a name not necessarily related, not in the meaning
Christmas". That's a bit vague. Does it or doesn't it exist in Croatian?
If it does, what does it mean there? I have no Slavic etymological
dictionary to hand, so I can't check the distribution of the word (apart
from being sure that it doesn't exist in modern Polish, though we do
have <krok> 'step, stride' < *korkU, with which you connect it, and from
which, incidentally, Rom. cracã can easily derive [details on demand]).
I'm really in two minds about this word. To decide either way I'd have
to examine its forms and meanings in those Slavic languages that have
it. Among the evidence discussed so far, East Slavic -oro- is a strong
argument in favour of original *-or-, and therefore in favour of Slavic
origin, but as far as I'm concerned, it would be premature to rule out
alternative explanations.
Piotr